New Defender's Study Bible Notes

19:41never man yet laid. The area had been purchased and specially constructed by Joseph, including even a garden, evidently as a special act of devotion to Christ. Since his home was in Arimathaea, not Jerusalem, he would hardly have prepared such a place for himself or any members of his family, especially within sight and sound of dying criminals. The only reasonable inference is that he—possibly with Nicodemus—had prepared the tomb and the graveclothes well in advance of the time they would be needed, precisely for this very temporary but eternally significant ministry.